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speak well of you. It seems that you are highly proficient as a surgeon, have
the ability to inspire subordinate staff to perform to the same level of
proficiency, and are speciesadaptable, imaginative, and justifiably ambitious.
If your current progress continues you will shortly be appointed to the
permanent staff here with the rank of senior physician, thus skipping the two
intervening trainee levels. But enough of the flattery.
O Mara paused for a moment. He knew that the other was unlikely to be able to
read Earth-
human facial expressions, but he hoped the serious tone in his voice would get
through the translator as he went on,  This appointment will require the
continuing impression and erasure of the mind tapes necessary for the
treatment of your future other-species patients, but it will definitely be
withheld if you aren t able to cope with your first experience of having a
mind partner. Thornnastor, I am here to help you cope. Is the emotional
problem you are experiencing so serious and mentally disabling that you want
to give up a promising career in medicine because of it?
 No" said Thornnastor.
 Again I remind you" O Mara continued,  my interest in anything you tell me is
purely clinical. Anything I learn will be a privileged communication, and I
shall not be judgmental or feel shocked by anything you say. Now, is there
something in your tape donor s mind that has triggered past memories or
experiences of your own, something about which you now feel ashamed?
 No, said the other loudly.
 Calm yourself said O Mara.  I had no intention of giving offense. But I do
need information. You said that you felt intense feelings of homesickness, for
friends you never met and places you have never been and, initially, you
appeared to feel shame over these feelings. Is it your mind partner who feels
this shame or-
 No, said Thornnastor again.
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 So it s you who feels the shame, said O Mara.  Tell me why you feel it, in
your own words and time. Tell me what is wrong with you, or what you think is
wrong with you, because you are the only person who can give me a clue to what
that is.
O Mara took a deep breath then let it out slowly. He said,  Thornnastor, I am
becoming very irritated by your continuing use of that word. If you won t talk
to me about the problem, will you at least tell me why?
 For three reasons, said Thornnastor.  You are not a medic and would not
appreciate my special difficulty, and you cannot know the complete workings of
my mind or those of my mind partner. With respect and apologies, O Mara, you
are wasting your time here. There is nothing you can do to help me.
O Mara nodded.  Possibly not" he said.  But I can be patient and talk all
around the problem, perhaps attack it from different directions. Would that
help?
 NoP said Thornnastor.
At least, O Mara thought sourly as he left the Tralthan s quarters, the
other s replies had been consistently negative. But if there was one thing he
hated it was being told what he could or could not do.
When he returned to the department there was a message for him saying that
Craythorne would be absent from his office for the next two hours. That, he
thought, should give him enough time to read more than the first page of
Thornnastor s psych file and to study the available information on the entity
who had donated that troublesome mind tape.
But the Tralthan s file revealed much that was new and nothing that was
useful. It seemed that Thornnastor was an exemplary trainee, a self-starter
from the beginning, able, serious, strong-willed, and with an unusually stable
and well integrated mind of which it was justifiably proud. Although it was
otherwise polite and well-behaved in its same- and other-species contacts, the
pride showed in its tendency to argue with its tutors during lectures, when it
had the irritating habit of usually proving them wrong.
The information on Thornnastor could have been a copy of the material that
appeared in all of the senior medical staff s psych files. Barring unforeseen
accidents, it was the psychological profile of a person who was heading for
the top of its professional tree. The personal information on its mind
partner, a Kelgian DBLF called Marrasarah, was sparse but interesting.
It began with a general explanation of the Educator-tape system and its uses
followed by a warning to the effect that the donors of the mind tapes were not
to be contacted for consultation regarding the material they had donated, or
for any other purpose, unless their own express
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